South African Expedition 2000
Wednesday 26 January
At last, some cricket to watch again.
Despite all the warnings we’d been told about South African public transport, we couldn’t be bothered to pay for a taxi all the way to the ground. So we first piled into a riki taxi. These are small, privately owned mini buses (no bigger than a Renault Espace) that drive along the major roads into town. The fare was only about 20p, but they didn’t half pack ‘em in. 16 to be precise.
| Then it was a train to Newlands. We had heard stories
about how unsafe trains in South Africa were, but there were plenty of other people
around, and we didn’t feel at all threatened. There was a bit of a trek at the ground to collect our tickets, but we got to our seats just in time to see South Africa come out to bat. They managed to get about 210 for 7 (I think), and never really got going. England started off slowly, and were never really up with the run rate until Chris Read thraped a few 4s and 6s off Pollock. We finally needed 8 to win off the final over, but fell agonisingly short when Darren Gough failed to hit the final ball of the match for 4 that would have brought victory. |
Flying the flag of St Michael's at Newlands |
We somehow managed to flag a taxi down after the game. The trains had stopped running by then, but even if they hadn’t, I don’t think it would have been wise to use them. Too dangerous by far.
Got dropped off by the taxi driver at the Irish Rover and got w##kered again.